Infant&#39;s garment with diaperattaching tabs



9, 1967 I w. w. ARTZT 3,317,922

INFANT'S GARMENT WITH DIAPER-ATTACHING TABS Filed June 22, 1964 I NVENTOR.

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United States Patent 3,317,922 INFANTS GARMENT WITH DLAPER- ATTACHINGTABS William Walter Artzt, New York, N.Y., assignor to Kapart, Inc., acorporation of Pennsylvania Filed June 22, 1964, Ser. No. 376,802 4Claims. (Cl. 2-111) This invention relates generally to infantsgarments, such as, undershirts, having tapes or tabs secured within thebody portion of the garment for pinning or other attachment of diapersthereto.

In existing infants garments provided with diaper-attaching tabs, thelatter are formed of woven textile tape which is wettable or acts as awick so that, when a diaper is pinned to the tabs, urine from the diapercan pass through the tabs to the body portion of the garment. Thus, eventhough an infant wears waterproof pants over the diaper, such pants donot prevent the wetting of the undershirt and other garments,particularly in the areas where the diaper-attaching tabs are secured tothe shirt.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide an infantsgarment, such as, an undershirt or the like, with diaper-attaching tabsof a hydrophobic, non-wicking or liquid impervious material so that,when a diaper is pinned to such tabs, urine from the diaper cannot passthrough the tabs to the undershirt or garment.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, each diaperattaching tab hasa plurality of folded plies of a material that consists of a non-wickingwoven or knitted textile fabric with a liquid-impervious coating at oneside thereof, and such plies are arranged so that the liquid-imperviouscoating preferably is at the inside and the textile fabric is exposed,thereby to afford a desirable fabric-like feel to the diaper-attachingtabs.

In existing infants garments provided with diaper-attaching tabs, thelatter are secured, by various patterns of stitching, to the frontportion of the body of the garment at locations adjacent the sides ofthe latter. Since the garment is usually formed of a knit fabric, theregions Where the tabs are sewed to the body, being relatively highlystressed and also weakened by the stitching passing therethrough, tendto tear at a time when the remainder of the garment exhibits little orno evidence of wear.

Accordingly, it is another object of this invention to provide aninfants garment with diaper-attaching tabs of any non-Wicking orliquid-impervious material secured to the body of the garment in amanner to avoid tearing of the latter under normal conditions of use.

In accordance with an aspect of this invention, an infants garmenthaving a body with front and back portions joined together along sideseams is provided with diaperattaching tabs each having an elongatedmain part and an upper part with one lateral edge offset relative to themain part, the offset lateral edge of the upper part of each tab beingsewed into the adjacent side seam of the garment body. With a tab havingthe foregoing configuration, the main part of each tab is spaced fromthe adjacent side seam of the garment body, and thus disposed forconvenient pinning of a diaper thereto and for avoiding excessive bulkat the side seam, whereas the load applied to the tab is transmitted tothe garment body at the side seam of the latter which is Well able toaccept such load without tearing of the knit fabric.

In accordance with still another aspect of this invention, each of thediaper-attaching tabs is formed by cutting a substantially T-shapedblank from a preferably nonwicking or liquid impervious, flexiblematerial, folding the blank along its line of symmetry to provide theelongated main part and the upper part having one side edge laterallyoffset relative to the main part, and then diagonally folding over theupper part toward the offset side 3,317,922 Patented May 9, 1967 edge sothat the upper part of the tab becomes substantially triangular andprojects laterally beyond the elongated main part for sewing into a sideseam of the garment body.

The above, and other objects, features and advantages of this invention,will be apparent in the following detailed description of anillustrative embodiment thereof which is to be read in connection withthe accompanying drawing forming a part hereof, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view, partly broken away, of an infantsgarment provided with diaper-attaching tabs in accordance with thisinvention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged plan View of a blank from which a diaper-attachingtab is formed in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 3 is a view of the blank after initial folding thereof;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary view of the upper part of the blank followingfurther folding thereof; and

FIG. 5 is an enlarged detail view illustrating the securgilgGof eachdiaper-attaching tab to the garment, as in Referring to the drawing indetail, and initially to FIG. 1 thereof, it will be seen thatdiaper-attaching tabs 10 embodying this invention are there shown in aninfants garment 12 which may be of a knit fabric and includes a bodyhaving a back portion 14 and a front portion 16 joined together by sewedor stitched seams 18 extending along opposite sides of the body. Thegarment 12 may be of the sleeveless type or, as shown, it may beprovided with sleeves 20 which, as disclosed in my United States LettersPatent No. 3,078,467, issued Feb. 26, 1963, are formed integrally withthe body and shoulders of the garment. Although the garment providedwith diaper-attaching tabs 10 in accordance with this invention ispreferably made from a one-piece blank in the manner disclosed in detailin the above identified Letters Patent, it is to be understood that thediaper-attaching tabs 10 can be provided in any other form of infantsgarment having a body that includes front and back portions joinedtogether along side seams.

Referring in detail to FIG. 5, it will be seen that, in accordance withthis invention, each diaper-attaching tab 10 includes an elongated mainpart 22 and an upper part 24 having a side edge portion 26 which islaterally offset relative to the main part 22. The laterally offset sideedge portion 26 of the the upper part 24 of each tab 10 is sewed intothe adjacent seam '18 joining the back and front portions 14 and 16 ofthe garment body whereby the main part 22 of each tab 10 is offset orspaced from the seam 18. Thus, the main part 22 of each tab 10 can lieforwardly with respect to the adjacent side seam 18 for convenientpinning or other attachment of a diaper to such main part 22 and furtherto avoid the presence of excessive and uncomfortable bulk at the regionof the side seam 18. Even though the main part 22 of each tab 10' v islocated forwardly with respect to the adjacent side seam 18, the loadapplied to the tab by pinning of a diaper to its main part 22 istransmitted through the offset edge portion 26 of the upper part 24 ofthe tab to the body of the garment at the adjacent side seam 18 Wherethe garment is adequately reinforced by the presence of at least twothicknesses of the knit fabric so as to be capable of accepting the loadwithout the danger of tearing of the fabric.

Further, in accordance with this invention, each diaperattaching tab 10is formed of a non-wicking material that is, a material which is liquidimpervious or immune to the capillary travel of liquid therethrough. Thematerial for the tabs 10 may be simply a flexible plastic sheetmaterial, but preferably is a composite material constituted by a wovenor knit textile fabric having a coating of flexible plastic resinapplied thereto, for example, as disclosed in detail in my United StatesLetters Patent No. 2,739,919,

issued Mar. 27, 1956. In such a composite material, the textile fabricmay be knitted from nylon yarns, while the plastic coating is of vinylresin or its polymers and copolymers.

By reason of the non-wicking characteristics of the material from whichthe tabs are formed in accordance with this invention, a diaper may bepinned or otherwise attached to such tabs without the possibility of thetransmission of urine from the diaper through the tabs to the bodygarment.

Referring to FIG. 2 in detail, it will be seen that each of the diaperattaching tabs 10 is preferably formed from a generally T-shaped blank10a cut from the non-wicking material. The blank 10a is shown to includea stern 22a and a cap 24a at the upper end thereof. The blank 10a isinitially folded about its line of symmetry 28 so that onehalf of theT-shaped blank is superposed on the other half to provide two plies inthe initially folded blank 10b shown on FIG. 3. Where the blank 10a iscut from a composite material made up of a textile fabric with a plasticcoating on one surface thereof, the folding of the blank about the line28 is effected so that the plastic coating will be at the interior ofthe folded blank 1% and the textile fabric will form the outer surfacesthereof to give a textile-like feel to the tab. It will be seen that theinitially folded blank 10b includes an elongated main part 2212 and anupper part 2411 having one of its side edge portions 26b olfsetlaterally relative to the main part 22]). Following the initial foldingof the blank about the line of symmetry 28, the two plies of theinitially folded blank 10b are preferably secured together, for example,by sealing together the plastic coating at the confronting or innersurfaces of the textile fabric along the free edges of the two piles, asindicated by the broken lines 30 on FIG. 3. Such sealing of the plasticcan be effected by the suitable application of pressure and heat, eitherelectronically or by the introduction of vibratory energy. The main part22b of the initially folded blank 10b is also preferably formed with aseries of spaced apart slits 32 through which diaper pins can beconveniently inserted, and, during the sealing of the free edges alongthe lines 30, as described above, the two plies of the initially foldedblanks are also preferably sealed together around the slits 32, asindicated by the broken lines 34.

Following the sealing of the two plies of the initially folded blank,the upper part 24b of the latter is diagonally folded about the line 36on FIG. 3 in the direction toward the laterally offset side edge 26b sothat the upper part 24 of the completed diaper-attaching tab 10 issubstantially triangular, as shown on FIG. 4. Following the diagonalfolding of the upper part 24, the laterally offset edge of the latter issewed into the side seam 18 of the garment, as shown on FIG. 5, therebyto secure the upper part in its triangular form. It Will be apparentthat, while the main part 22 of the tab has two plies of the non-wickingmaterial therein, the diagonally folded, triangular upper part 24 of thetab has twice as many plies, that is, four thicknesses of thenon-wicking material,

to ensure secure attachment of the tab to the garment at the side seamof the latter.

It has further been found that the diagonal folding of the upper part 24of the tab prior to its being sewed into the adjacent side seam of thegarment body serves to avoid twisting of the tab When the load of thediaper attached thereto is applied along a line, that is, at the line ofthe slits 32, which is offset with respect to the location of theattachment of the tab in the side seam of the garment body.

Although an illustrative embodiment of this invention has been describedin detail herein with reference to the accompanying drawing, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to that precise embodiment,and that various changes and modifications may be made therein by oneskilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of theinvention, except as defined in the appended claims.

Whatis claimed is:

1. An infants garment comprising a body having front and back portions,sewed seams joining together said front and back portions along theopposite sides of said body, and a pair of diaper-attaching tabs ofnon-Wicking material located within said body adjacent the oppositesides thereof, each of said tabs having an elongated main part and anupper part with one lateral edge offset relative to said main part, saidupper part being diagonally folded over toward said offset lateral edgeto double the thicknesses of said material in said upper part, and saidoffset lateral edge of the folded-over upper part of each tab beingsecured in the adjacent sewed seam so that the main part of the tab isspaced from said seam.

2. An infants garment as in claim 1; wherein each tab has two plies ofsaid material in said main part and four plies in said folded-over upperpart.

3. An infants garment as in claim 2; wherein said material is a textilefabric having a liquid impervious coating thereon, and said two plies ofsaid material in said main part of each tab have said liquid imperviouscoatings thereof facing each other.

4. An infants garment as in claim 1; wherein said material is a flexibleplastic resin.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,106,687 8/1914Thorpe 2111 1,288,673 12/1918 Potterf 2-70 1,317,508 9/1919 Kops 1285351,414,202 4/1922 Redmond 2-112 1,696,559 12/1928 Ward 2-111 2,136,25011/1938 Peck 2-314 X 2,446,394 8/1948 Sunseri 2-111 2,739,919 3/1956Artzt 156232 3,078,467 2/1963 Artzt 2111 X 3,166,763 1/1965 Wells 21l2JORDAN FRANKLIN, Primary Examiner.

A. R. GUEST, Assistant Examiner,

1. AN INFANT''S GARMENT COMPRISING A BODY HAVING FRONT AND BACKPORTIONS, SEWED SEAMS JOINING TOGETHER SAID FRONT AND BACK PORTIONSALONG THE OPPOSITE SIDES OF SAID BODY, AND A PAIR OF DIAPER-ATTACHINGTABS OF NON-WICKING MATERIAL LOCATED WITHIN SAID BODY ADJACENT THEOPPOSITE SIDES THEREOF, EACH OF SAID TABS HAVING AN ELONGATED MAIN PARTAND AN UPPER PART WITH ONE LATERAL EDGE OFFSET RELATIVE TO SAID MAINPART, SAID UPPER PART BEING DIAGONALLY FOLDED OVER TOWARD SAID OFFSETLATERAL EDGE TO DOUBLE THE THICKNESSES OF SAID MATERIAL IN SAID UPPERPART, AND SAID OFFSET LATERAL EDGE OF THE FOLDED-OVER UPPER PART OF EACHTAB BEING SECURED IN THE ADJACENT SEWED SEAM SO THAT THE MAIN PART OFTHE TAB IS SPACED FROM SAID SEAM.